So today I saw my doctor again about my excessive headaches. I had actually been scheduled to talk to her like 3 months ago, but I wanted my mom with me (yeah... I'm a wimp. But I have trouble standing up to doctors when they tell me something stupid sometimes, whereas she is ready and even somewhat eager to tear them a new one), and she didn't want to go during cold season and catch whatever everyone in the waiting room has...

My family is the most paranoid ever about getting colds, by the way.

Anyway, I'm not having as many headaches as before. Still.... way more than regular people. But most of her stuff was for migraines, and I think a lot of mine are neck headaches, I've not had many of the ones I consider migraines (there's still some doubt on that issue) in awhile.

So basically she was like, "well it went away on it's own" and left me where I was before.

And there's really no reason the headaches have gone away except for 1, and even I don't really believe it at this point. Which is: I've not heard "The Noise" in a really long time. "The Noise" was this kind of low vibrating I was hearing at my house that was driving me INSANE. First off, I hated it. Secondly, no one else could hear it so I looked like a nut. Anyway, for awhile I thought maybe that making the headaches more frequent and worse. Now I don't know.

Also I tried joining this RPing mud, and they hated part of my premise for my character and I'm stuck trying to think of a new one. Gah, damn anal admin. I'm not Dickens, here. That one idea was all I had.

I directed that one show at TV-10 again. Though I'm forced to admit that I don't really direct because there's not enough people, so basically I work the switcher. Good times. Also, I dubbed like 5 resume tapes which takes forever. But I want to be able to send them out once I have my cover letter approved by my news director who's looking it over. Then I hope to use these get a job, and then I hope to have the best career ever as a photographer.

So that's my day.

So I visited TV-10 to get a chance to talk to my news director on how much I hate my job and what I should do, etc. She calmed me down a lot, I think I am still going to go for a career as a photog, and if I still don't like it, THEN give up. She said that there are jerks no matter what job you have, though it is worse in the media because of the egos, but that I should give it a try. Things are better at a lot of other stations, especially when you end up being not the lowest person on the totem pole anymore.

So now all I have to do is write cover letters. And if I get an interview, not act crack addicty.

I'm nervous again already.

Do two wrongs make a right?

Tina: hows you?
Phoemeister: alright
Phoemeister: aside from the colitis
Tina: bleh... HA loose control in douchebags van 'accidently' you have a medical reason and he'll look like a jerk for yelling at you
Phoemeister: ROFLMAO

Yes, according to my friends.

Anyway, I was overjoyed today, he wasn't around for some reason, so I didn't have to put up with his crap for once. I shot some press conferance on some organization that helps low income people pay their energy bills. Then I went to see this chick who went to a high school in our area and ended up being on the volleyball team in the last olympics who was speaking.

My Easter was decent. My family doesn't really do anything religious, we just went out to brunch at baker's square, and it was nice enough.

Then I went to the station. Teeechnically, I think I could've gotten out of it for Easter, but I came in anyway. Sundays are the least of my worries anyway, DB doesn't work them. Anchor lady is about the meanest person on Sundays (actually plastic hair is but I don't have to talk to him very often), and she was really nice to me today, perhaps because she was happy I came in on Easter when I didn't have to.

I felt bad, I had to call her up and ask her for directions on two different things, but she didn't lecture me or anything.

Aaanyway, I did a bit of fluff about the nice weather today, going and getting people washing their cars and flying kites etc. The other thing was this passion walk at a church where they re-enacted Jesus's last days.

I swear, I cover more religious things. It's weird to think of church stuff as news, actually. I'm surprised there aren't any like, muslim or jewish or other people who aren't pissed off that we do so many christian stories. On the other hand, the religious people I meet seem to be really nice. Though.. I guess a lot of people are nice to me when I have a camera in hand. But still, I enjoy the niceness. It was kind of awkward, though, this one guy asked me after I went through the Passion Walk, as it was called, "Did you get anything from it?" and I was like, "Yeah, I think I got a lot of good shots..." and he was like, "no, I mean spiritually," and I had to lie and be like, "Oh yeah. You know, I never saw that Passion movie because of the violence, it was nice to come here and see the same sort of stuff presented in a more family-friendly manner." Which... I've watched a ton of violent movies. And christianity DOES make me uncomfortable sometimes. I want to believe, I really do. If wanting to believe made you believe, I would've became a devout christian years ago. But I just... can't. And I get uncomfortable with things that remind me of it.

Though the passion walk wasn't that bad. Since there were little kids going through, it was quite watered down and not that intense of an experience. But I wasn't about to tell the kindly old dude who helped me so much, in front of the other kindly churchgoers who also helped me around the church a flat out "No." Or, "Sorry, but I am un-religious." Which is what I call it instead of atheist. Because atheists are committed to believing there's no god. Whereas I would, as I said earlier, totally become christian or any other religion if I could make myself. Going around without a belief system is pretty depressing sometimes. I'd like to know how athiests do it. Then I'd probably commit to athiesm.....

So, I know I've arrived. I'm #23 on yahoo for Sweet Hooking for Crack.

Also, new comic spawned by ANOTHER disturbing search request, Hi-Liter Hitler.

So I rehabilitated another old blog, Alternatune. It WAS a music blog where a friend and I reviewed stuff. But I hadn't posted in forever. And she made like 3 posts ever. So... pretty dead. Now I'm going to just post my random musings on music, basically. How Ben Fold's "Wandering," reminds me of this time I was listening to it while waiting for a grilled cheese sandwich at the cafeteria, how Best Buy owns me, whatever comes to mind. I figured it might be nice to separate some of my musical thoughts from the regular stuff, because I, for one, know it's TOTALLY annoying to read someone's blog and they're blathering on about some band you couldn't give less of a crap about. So... I have a whole separate area to do that now!

If anyone wants to blather with me, and make it a group blog again, just let me know.

Oh... and don't read any of the old stuff I posted there. It's SO pretentious. Reviewing things makes me sound like a jackass.

Today sucked. Well... I'll put the good bit before the bad bit.

I DID do a story in which NOTHING got screwed up for once. I did it all perfectly. It was some good friday thing at a church. And I rocked it like a hurricane!

Okay, now for the bad part of the day. I thought I would be able to avoid DB, because some people were gone, so I was able to use their gear instead of having to go to DB to get his and let him tell me I'm a horrible person all the while. Unfortunately... DB actually sought me out on his own time to verbally abuse me.

First off, he was pissed that I left that styrofoam cup and a page of directions I'd written down in his van. He actually SAVED them (I left them there on monday) to give them to me today to make me throw them away. I actually wasn't that upset, though. It was like, whatever, dude. I'm sitting right next to a wastebasket. This isn't really putting me out, while I'm sure saving this stuff four days probably put you to some extra effort. But I mean, it IS stupid. I use his van all the time and this is the ONE time I left anything. And it wasn't like, disgusting food that could go bad or smell everything up or anything. It was a piece of paper and a styrofoam cup. Does he really think I meant to leave this stuff there any more than he meant to leave his keys in the van on Monday? Newsflash, DB: SOMETIMES PEOPLE FORGET THINGS.

Secondly he, like, showed me how to use the rain gear. Which, I was actually grateful for. But he like... did it in a way that was very, "Oh, I can't believe you don't know this already, you should've asked someone by now." But again, I didn't really get that angry.

I didn't even get upset when he yelled at me for not getting gas in the van (the "rule" is leave it at least 1/4 full, I left his a hair below that because I didn't consider it that low, and I hate going out for gas because I have to stand outside and ring the doorbell like an idiot in the freezing cold until someone lets me in every time I go out for anything because I don't have a key).

Here is what made me cry: the photogs have these cubbys that aren't that big. And he had this GIANT bag in there for some reason. So on monday when I put the camera back, it was a rather tight fit. But I didn't know what else to do. He's so fucking touchy about his stuff, I know he would've yelled at me if I moved the bag. And I didn't like, just shove it in there, I did do it carefully. I'd actually forgotten about it until he brought it up again.

He chewed my head off about this, how I could've broken the camera, and how cameras are delicate and you can't treat them like that, and he's appalled that I just shoved it in there, I should've moved the bag, yadda yadda ya. He's FURIOUS. He got another camera and videotaped how his camera was jammed in there the next day, and says he's going to show it to my supervisor, and the union rep, and maybe a few other people.

Okay. I've washed my hands of ever making a favorable impression on this guy. But now he's trying to make me look bad in front of other people? This just sucks. I'd really like to know why he hates me this much. I mean... he's a jerk to everyone. But he like.... is going out of his way to be mean to me lately. Come on, saving a cup four days to make me throw it away? Videotaping how I left his camera as proof, when I wouldn't have lied about it anyway?

I just really hope plastic hair doesn't hear about this, because he's a piece of work himself, and I already had that incident around him where this one bit of plastic fell off the camera, and he didn't like that I said it "fell off" he was like, "it broke off! You broke it off! You broke the camera! Those cameras are worth more than you are! You should be more careful!" when really, it DID fall off. Maybe I somehow broke it earlier and it didn't fall off till later, but it really DID fall off from a jolt that couldn't break anything off. And like, the engineer we called to fix it didn't even care. It took him like two seconds to superglue it back together. So now I have the two biggest jerks at the station thinking I just swing the cameras around my head and drop them all over and shove them places and don't even care, and I really don't need them blabbing it around to everyone. Though they probably will. The station's horrible that way, someone's ALWAYS badmouthing someone else behind his/her back and making him/her sound utterly incompetant.

The work environment here is breaking my will to live. I really don't know what I should do. Because I've heard this station IS the worst. So maybe once the internship is over, I can get a job somewhere else and the people won't be jerks. But... I don't know if I can count on that. Maybe all stations ARE like this. I wanted to talk to my news director from TV-10 on Wednesday to see what she says, but she was busy, so I'm going to try again this Tuesday when she says she's less busy. I am just really freaking out about this right now, it seems like every day just gets worse.

d'oh. Some of my comments are gone. What's up with that? I swear, nice commenters, I didn't delete them.

This is a conversation with my friend Tina about this guy who is like, emotionally messed up and latches onto any girl that talks to him, so I feel the need to distance myself. Also, it's about my nose and the peculiarities thereof.

Phoemeister: ways to keep people from getting hot for you, example 1:

Low Self Esteem Guy: *snuggle*
Phoemeister: I think I have a pimple on the inside of my right nostril
Phoemeister: how does that even happen?

Tina: :: LAUGHS:: Isn't those the weirdest things though?
Phoemeister: yeah
Tina: and I doubt it deters him
Phoemeister: it hurts like hell too
Phoemeister: yeah, well I have to try
Phoemeister: god, now he's freaking me out, though
Phoemeister: he says it could be an ingrown hair
Phoemeister: and get infected
Tina: it could be, it COULD be that... but dude, any zit could do that... you have to remember your dealing with mister cheerful here
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: okay

Three new comics: Free Hermaphrodite Movies part 1 and part 2 (part 2 by guest cartoonist Tina), and Do Hamsters Have Rabbis? also cartooned by Tina.

Man, I'm a horrible aunt. The 'phew is sick, and my parents are taking care of him because the daycare's like, "we don't want him here, he'll get the other kids sick," though that policy obviously is not that helpful as he GOT this cold FROM daycare, and about a thousand others besides. Anyway, I was complaining to a friend a couple of the inconveniances of having him around, and the thought that I'm a horrible aunt couldn't help but rear it's ugly head.

And honestly, I must be a horrible aunt, because that's not the full extent of it. I just realized, I could really take or leave him at this point. I don't know why I can't get all enthusiastic about him the way my parents do. It's like... he's a baby. He doesn't even have a personality yet. I remember the first time he smiled at me, and my heart completely melted, I felt so much love for him... but I've never been able to re-create that feeling again. The closest time I've gotten are a couple times when he's done something that makes me laugh my head off, which I admit, is fun. So most of the time I think of him as something to entertain myself with at my sister's house when I'm bored to death about their crappy conversations about my sister's husband's stepdad's grandpa, or are they themselves trying to play with the baby.

Anyway, I'm hoping that my sis has another kid in a couple years. And then, 1) by then he'll be able to talk and stuff, so I'll like hanging out with him, and 2) I won't have to fight for his time with my parents and his million other doting relatives, because they'll stop paying attention to him for the new baby. And he'll doubly like me for paying attention to him instead of the baby. It's all win win.

Well, I'm trying to start up Troubled Youth again, and am looking for people to post. If you don't know what this is, here is a condensed explanation: it's a collaborative blog where I and everyone else involved takes a post-it note and writes an observation or something sarcastic on it, and posts it in a public place and signs the note "Troubled Youth," then posts it in the guestbook of the site, or if they're a member, actually on the site. A more detailed (possibly less confusing) explanation is on the actual site.

A friend and I came up with the idea years ago. Unfortunately, we are rather lazy and I posted not too frequently and she even less. And then, I couldn't even post at all anymore, because Blogger was not publishing because of the template or something.

So yesterday, I got an e-mail from someone who wanted to join. You'd be surprised at how many residual hits I get for that site even though no one posts anymore. And in reaction.... I overhauled the ENTIRE template. Which was a huge pain. But I like it more than the other template anyway. The other template was busy as hell, and I only put up with it because my co-creator liked it because she thought each individual post looked like an actual post-it note, and would sort of go with the theme.

Also, the ONE graphic we do have looks much better on a black background. So it's all good. Post-it note something for me people! Or badger your friends to! Or link to the site, even. I'm beggin' ya here.

So... because I didn't end up making the colitis comic, the guy I was talking to came up with another way to do it and took matters into his own hands, so yes, I have my first guest comic: Embarassing Colitis

Phoemeister: Oh, and I bet i'm in trouble later. I think I left a styrofoam cup in the cupholder of douchebag's van
Sui: haha
Phoemeister: and he'll be all, "you trashed my van!"
Phoemeister: 'you have no consideration for others"
Sui: whatever..
Sui: you should have written a big middle finger on it
Phoemeister: LOL
Sui: you should totally buy him a douchebag
Sui: and then write the word "you" on it
Phoemeister: ROFLMAO

Today at the station: again not so good of a day. Yes... time for another long rant.

First off I had to ask DB (douchebag) for his equiptment again. I'm sensing that this is going to be a regular part of my routine on Mondays and Fridays now. First off, he bitched about the battery for the camera light being dead last time I used it. BUT, I never used it that day. We'd already had a similar confrontation when I HAD used the light, but had actually gotten confused and thought it was broken and told him so and he was even more mad because I should've told someone so that if it was broken it'd get fixed.... Anyway, I didn't touch his damn light or light battery last time, and told him so. I've actually gotten to the point where if he yells at me for something totally unjustified, I'll yell back. Which is probably a bad habit for me to be doing to a superior, but... he makes me so mad sometimes. Anyway, he gave me this whole lecture anyway about how I should've still charged it, they always charge them at the end of the shift or something even if it doesn't need it. And I pretty much said, "well, how'm I supposed to know that?" and he got all, "you should ask, you don't want to learn, you don't even care blah blah blah" which I think is just poo. But it did make me feel bad... what if I'm NOT doing all I could? But... on the other hand, I borrow other people's stuff all the time and none of them ever give me crap, but he without fail gives me crap every time, so maybe he's just being DB.

So they tell me I'm going to these two high school all-star games in Bloomington that start at 6, but I can get there at 6:30 and it doesn't really matter. Until then, they actually had me go to a live shot with the guy I was talking about yesterday. So I got to learn about how to do a live shot, and help him with grunt stuff like watching the camera while he goes to the truck to do something. So I had a pretty decent time except the huge pole that telescopes up so that the sattelite is above most buildings wasn't working at first so we had to stand outside in the cold while he tried to figure it out and called up other people at the station who also couldn't figure it out... So anyway, he said I could probably leave at 5:45 and still make the games in Bloomington by 6:30. And I'm like, "Okay, but I'll probably leave at 5:30 to give myself a little extra time." Because by then there wasn't much to do anyway.

So at 5:30, I go to my van and exactly when I sit down I get a call from DB. He left his car keys in my van! And he was ANNOYED AT ME. For no reason I can tell. Was I the dumbass that left my car keys in the back of a van? No. So basically he tells me to stop off at the station on the way to bloomington, which I don't mind. Oh, and he was also pissed I was still at the mall, because he was just convinced my thing was at 6 even though I told him that they told me 6:30 was fine. But why would he be pissed? If I'd left by six, I'd be halfway to bloomington by the time he called and there's no way I'd have time to go back to give him his damn keys.

So on the way to the station: I hit HORRIBLE traffic that I did NOT foresee. Basically, even though I was on a freeway, we were going 20 miles per hour. Coming to a full stop occaisionally. The station's not THAT far away, and it took me half an hour. So now I'm freaking out that I'll be late. I get DB his keys and for once he's silent. Then I drive to bloomington.

I get there, late, of course. And am so frazzled I left the tapes in the car and had to go back and get one. And then.... of course, the camera won't work. I hit eject to open it up to put the tape in... and it wouldn't open. So I call up the station and finally find out that pushing on the door sort of unsticks it.

So then I'm like, ready to go... and the game ends. Which totally pissed me out, the scoreboard clearly said period 2, which gives me TONS of time, seeing as how basketball is supposed to be 4 quarters. But apparently.... they only wanted short games, since it's all-star and there's two of them. So... I have all these reasons I was late, Traffic, DB's keys, they SAID I could come at 6:30, unnaturally short game... but I don't want to be a whiner and be like, "oh, it's someone else's fault." That just sounds like I'm making up crap and blaming other people. But these people (if DB can be classified as a person) deserve blame! And I didn't want to screw up after yesterday, where I came late, and again had problems that I don't consider my fault.. I just don't want to be that incompetant person who whines about how it's not their fault.

Oh, and the second game went pretty smoothly, so that's alright. Except I DID do the stereotypical sports photographer blooper, i.e. getting knocked down by a player. But nothing broke and I wasn't hurt, so it was all good.

So I came back and told the sports guy (not-plastic-hair sports guy is actually pretty nice and understanding) and he already knew about my camera problems and didn't mind. So.... all that worrying... was for nothing, it was such a relief. So basically the only thing I'm still upset about that is just how mean DB is to me... but I guess he's just like that.

I was sharing bits of Jack Black's page on IMDB with a friend and...

Phoemeister: I love his credit in the Neverending Story III, btw: The NeverEnding Story III (1994) .... Slip, Leader of The Nasties
Phoemeister: Jack Black led the nasties!
Sui: haha
Phoemeister: I wish that were my title. My business card would be: Phoemeister (leader of the nasties)
Sui: you should just put it in anyways
Phoemeister: I could just find a couple people
Phoemeister: and be like, "you're my nasties. I lead you."
Sui: haha
Sui: Where my nasties at?
Phoemeister: LOL
Phoemeister: yes
Phoemeister: I'm going to say that whenever my nasties are elswhere
Sui: haha
Sui: I approve
Phoemeister: good
Phoemeister: you can be one of them
Phoemeister: you can be second in command of the nasties
Phoemeister: a nasty officer if you will
Sui: nice
Sui: Lieutenant of the nasties
Phoemeister: Lieutenant Nasty, where my nasties at?
Sui: on missions of nastinal security

Phoemeister: I got a search for "embarassing colitis." Wow, someone who got to my blog from a search actgually probably found what they were looking for :P
Sui: haha
Phoemeister: though actually I've never put up any real embarassing stuff up on the blog because I'd prefer to forget it
Phoemeister: rather than leaving it up there
Sui: what.. like pictures?
Phoemeister: lol
Sui: you could totally make a comic
Sui: like..
Sui: shwo the inside of your intestines
Sui: or colon or whatever
Sui: and have this little colitis virus/bacteria/wahtever it is that causes it
Sui: like.. trip over his shoelace or something
Phoemeister: hereditary causes it
Phoemeister: LOL
Sui: well there has to be some biological reason for it!
Sui: I need soemthing to do something embarassing in the comic
Sui: it's not funny if like.. your mom trips over her shoelace
Sui: no one would get it
Phoemeister: yeah, hereditary
Phoemeister: my genes
Phoemeister: it's my immune system attacking my colon
Phoemeister: So... I suppose my immune system could trip over it's shoelaces
Sui: haha see
Sui: that would work

Oh, I forgot something else nice that happened today. I got to eat at Taco Bell on the way back from the story I did! I think I've mentioned on here before how much I love steak. And that steak can cure nearly any problem I have, at least temporarily. Steak just makes me that happy.

Anyway, Taco Bell is like the bargain version of that for me. I have to say, now that I'm traveling around in a newsvan frequently, people are gonna be like, "Man! Something's always going down at Taco Bell! There's always a newsvan outside!" Because this is the second time I've taken a newsvan to Taco Bell. And I've never taken one to go to anywhere else but a story.

So today..... a very long day. Technically, I'm supposed to come into the station at about 2:00, but because there isn't always anything for me to do, I'm really supposed to coordinate with the crew that goes out on Sundays. So I did. And ended up going in at 9. So... my day started early. But the story they were doing was in my town (I commute to the station), so instead of making me get up the extra time to drive down there, they had me meet them there. Then, instead of driving down afterwards, I rode down in the news van, and was going to get home by riding with the other photographer, who also lives around here.

Well, since they only make me "work" 8 hours (7, actually because if I don't take my hour-long break, which I usually don't, I leave an hour early) I figured I was going to get to go home at 5 instead of 10 (or 4 instead of 9). Well... since they needed the other photographer longer, I actually went home at 7:30, which sucked, especially since I had nothing to do the extra time. And I felt bad for him, he came in even earlier than me, and ended up working 12 hours straight.

I did get to shoot one thing, but it turned out not so good. It was an easter egg hunt. I left for it as soon as I could, but was still a tiny bit late. Five minutes. At most. Unfortunately: the parking lot near which they did this is fed by a long, narrow road on which people had parked on both sides, making the road only one lane wide. And there were people leaving already when I tried to get in. So.... I was screwed. I had to park very far away, lug my stuff all the way up there, go back all the way when I realized I was stupid and had the wrong batteries (pile of live batteries, pile of dead batteries--should've kept them straight better) and go back. That, combined with the fact that the kids were like LIGHTNING at finding all the eggs: bad news. I mean, I still pulled off a vo by creeping around videotaping kids carrying baskets, and ordering them to hug the man dressed up as the easter bunny for me. Yeah.... sordid, I know.

But.... I did feel the need to explain why I didn't get the best shots, and the anchor lady was PISSED at me. She basically told me I should've took charge and made the people let me get into the parking lot. Okay, how am I supposed to do this? Even if I DID decide to be a total jerk and say, "All of you, back up. I have to get in. I'm the media." which is what she was proposing, there's NO way I can enforce this. It's not like it was one car I wanted to get out of my way. It's 5, at least. With no room to manuever even if I were good at it. I don't have a monster truck. I can't just drive over them. There's nothing I can do about this, except show up earlier than I did. Which, is not my fault. The other crew dropped me at the station and I immediately drove over there, no dawdling, no getting lost. I really see nothing else I could do.

Oh sidenote: douchebag didn't work today, but I saw him today. The man is one of those people who make balloon animals at parties and stuff on the side. And guess where he was plying this trade? Yes. The easter egg hunt! What are the freakin' odds, people? If I hadn't already known he was in the balloon business, I don't know what I would've done if I saw him there making balloon animals. As it was I almost wet myself, seeing him at random when I'm already screwing up on the job. I avoided him pretty well though, even though I had wanted to get a shot of "the balloon man" before I knew who it was. But even though I was hard up for good footage at this point, I still stayed well away. Honestly, I'm not getting close enough to shoot that man unless it's with a glock.

The drive home was kind of informative. The photog on Sundays is the one person at that place I can actually talk to. Part of it is definately because we knew each other back at TV-10, but also, I think he's new enough there that his soul hasn't died yet like everyone else's. Honestly, I felt horrible for him. Apparently he'd forgotten to write the number of the phone he took with him a couple days ago, so that when anchor lady tried to call him about a housefire or somesuch, she couldn't get ahold of him. So she was really angry and just.... laid into him. She took every instance of every little mistake he'd ever made, that any photog could make, and just listed them out, and told him that he acts unprofessional. The last bit, she elaborated on to basically mean he has a crappy personality, and that no one likes him. Which, in my opinion, is basically because he's the only person there that acts like a human being instead of a robot. So he makes jokes once in awhile, and actually tries to enjoy his job and make friends with people there? I swear--when I'm there I'm as quiet as a tomb most of the time. If they knew my real personality, they (or her--there's some evidence that points to her just being a jerk and telling him all this with no one else's opinions backing her up) would go nuts. If he's too goofy for these people, you KNOW I am. Anyway, he said none of that bothered him all that bad, he can deal with people who don't like him. What really killed him, though, was he was chief photog at TV-10. And she said, "If you were chief photog, the people there must REALLY suck." Which, he said it made him feel so bad because he didn't want to ruin it for everyone else from TV-10, and when he'd been chief photog, he'd tried his best to help everyone there learn, etc. Which, on that count I definately think it was just the anchor lady, because when I was hired as an intern, my interviewer basically told me that people from TV-10 kick ass, and have a lot of good experience. Even if the guy I was talking to was braindead, which he isn't, I don't think he could undo that reputation just by himself.

Anyway, the talk kind of made me feel better for myself. That I'm not the only one who feels incredibly uncomfortable ALL the time there. And he also gave me some hope that other stations aren't as bad as this one, he used to do some sports at another one, and they were nice there, and his brother works at a station in another town and just loves the job and his coworkers. So.... maybe if I find a job somewhere else, I'm not stuck with jerks and robots like I've been worrying I might be ever since I started the internship.

So I went to the Mennonite Relief Sale for the station. It ROCKED. If you don't know (and you probably don't), every year the Mennonites around here get together and sell pies and other food and auction off stuff and it's pretty decent. They have the best food.... strawberry pies, strawberry cheesecake, doughnuts, icecream..... and those are just like, the AWESOME things, they also have porkchop whatever and other pies and popcorn and anything else you'd want. And handmade crafts and whatever else. It's pretty cool. And the people there were SO nice to me, this guy actually got out this wheely thing to help me carry my equiptment. I do get tired of, "Oh, you're a girl, you must be having trouble carrying that," but I do secretly like it when people help me carry stuff. Because hey, I'm no amazon.

And the people I interviewed were nice, and the other random people were nice too. Though it was self serving, to get their stuff on the air. But I don't care. If people ask me too shoot something, I'll shoot something. I might not use it later, but I'll shoot it. So when, as happened today, someone's like, "You have to get this hand carved moose!".... well, I get the hand carved moose. And they gave me free chocolate on a stick. Man... you don't even need bribes. Give the photographer 75 cents worth of chocolate, and you're totally getting a good story. From me, anyway.

One of the best bits was I actually saw someone I knew from high school there. She wasn't part of my core group of friends or anything, but we were somewhat friends back in the day. She's so nice, and fun. We hadn't talked in like, five years, but we ended up laughing so hard at our jobs (lack thereof) and any number of topics. It was really nice, I was sorry I didn't have more time to socialize.

The only bad thing today was douchbag photographer was a douchebag to me again, but I'm kind of not that upset about it anymore.... I guess I'm to the point where I realize that he's a douchebag to EVERYONE, and it's not personal, so it's just like.... water off a duck's back.

So it was a fairly good day.

New search request comic, "Hibatchi Stake House"

Make that three.

I have done nothing in the last two days.

True story.

Well, work started out alright, I went and got an interview with the spazzy team I mentioned before that won sectionals. But on the way back, I started in with a migraine. This was at about 4:30 and I couldn't get home to get my drugs till 9 (later, if you count the commute). To make matters worse, I totally screwed up the other thing I did at work today.

There was this live shot at the school district meeting (they're TOTALLY hosed, like a gazillion dollars in debt and had to decide whether to lay off teachers mid schoolyear or take out a loan that will make them even further in debt), and, like always, they just shoved me out the door without really telling me what I was supposed to do there. But I figured I could ask the photog and reporter that were already there that I was supposed to help. Anyway, all of a sudden I was shooting this interview. They were like hurry hurry hurry, I even had to do it on my shoulder instead of on a tripod. But of course, we're using the ONE damn camera that has the audio settings on it completely backward from all the other cameras, so I didn't get any audio.

So that was my day.

So I skipped work today.

On Sundays (or any time I want to get in when it's not during "business hours") I have to get someone to let me in, because I don't have a keycard. Usually, ringing the doorbell works, though sometimes I have to whip out the cell phone and call people inside to make them let me in.

But when I got there today, no one was there. Absolutely no one. Which... usually I talk to the one crew that goes out on Sundays ahead of time so I know when they're going to be there, and go with them. But I forgot this time. When I don't consult with them and just show up at 2:00, the weatherman usually lets me in. But the weatherman's wife had a baby like, a week ago, so he's not been around. So I probably would've had to wait for the weekend anchor lady, who comes in maybe at 3. I should've probably been a dedicated employee and waited till 3. But I don't know for sure she comes in at 3. She pretty much runs the whole show on Sundays, she can come in whenever she wants, really. And... I knew I wasn't doing anything today, because I checked the assignments when I was in on Friday. And I don't get paid.

So I wrote a note on a very old flier from The Normal Theatre that was lying around in the back of my car, wedged it into the doorframe, and took off.

I'm very guilt ridden, too. But not enough to have stayed there the extra hour waiting.

Another new "disturbing search request comic" : "Bus Terminals and Pee

I'm too lazy to type this out again, so you're going to get a transcript of an AIM conver where I was venting:

Phoemeister: oh, and at the beginning of the day this total douchebag photogapher was a total douchebag to me
Sui: that sucks
Sui: what happened?
Phoemeister: Well, there were no cameras left for me to shoot my stuff. But the douchebag's shift was about over, so they're like, "Ask him for his camera." And I'm scared of him anyway, because everyone is always like, "Man, he's such a douchebag!" behind his back. Anyway, I go over and tell him that, and he's pissed because he's in the middle of something. And he's like, "how soon do you leave?" which, I don't know. No one ever tells me anything about what I'm about to do, they just hand me a press release and shove me out the door. But no one had given me the press release yet. And "what are you shooting?" which again, I don't know. So anyway, the assignment giver outer overhears this, and shouts "SHE HAS TO GO RIGHT NOW." So I figure he hears that. But like, I'm standing there like 10 minutes. Finally, someone else is like, "(douchbag'es name), she has to go now!" And he's like, "She didn't tell me!" and both me and the other person are like, "Assignment lady just shouted it at you!" only he's already off towards the van with the gear.
Phoemeister: there's more
Sui: hah that sucks a lot
Phoemeister: So he goes out to the van and is like, "what gear do you need?" and I don't know what to tell him. Because I don't have any gear of my own, but even if I use his camera I prefer to use someone else's gear because I can only imagine what would happen to me if something broke while I was using it and it was his stuff. So I'm kind of like... "I don't know" which makes him insanely angry, and he's like, "WHAT GEAR DO YOU HAVE?" and finally I'm like, "NOTHING! I HAVE NOTHING, OKAY. IF YOU DON"T WANT ME TO USE YOUR GEAR, I DON"T CARE I CAN BORROW SOMEONE ELSE'S"
Phoemeister: and he's like, "NO I JUST WANTED TO KNOW HOW MUCH YOU HAVE."
Sui: hahah
Phoemeister: So he gets all the gear together for me, which I hate because I ended up without a lav (the little mic that you clip to people, and I like those way better than the stick mics, which is like, a regular mic) and the wireless transmitter to the mic instead of a mic cord. Which, the wireless is much more convenient. When it works. Which I'm always afraid it won't, it's more temperamental.

So anyway, when I was out his light wouldn't work, because I couldn't check it beforehand, which I'm sure I'll be blamed for. AND the wireless transmitter didn't work. For that, I ended up rummaging around in the van and finally found an extension mic cord. An extension mic cord is REALLY LONG. And this one is as tangled as hell. I swear, the people at the blooddrive actually felt so bad for me they helped me untangle it. So I'll probably get blamed for busting his transmitter too, though on that count, I think maybe I just don't know how to work the transmitter.
Phoemeister: So anyway, he almost made me cry. Just because he was in a hurry and didn't want to bother going out to switch gear. Which, if he'd just given me the damn keys to his van, he wouldn't have had to got up at all and I could've put together gear by myself.
Sui: aww : (
Phoemeister: I think he's even meaner than plastic hair.
Phoemeister: anyway, that was just getting it off my chest. The rest of my day went pretty well.
Sui: hehe well i'm glad I could listen to you vent
Sui: the stories are always fun
Phoemeister: OH
Phoemeister: here's another thing: I followed him out while he was getting stuff
Phoemeister: and I was standing between one of the vans and he wanted to get by
Phoemeister: and we did that thing where we both try to get by each other on the same side, but then change, but the other one changed sides too.... and he was like, "GET OVER THERE" and pointed somewhere
Phoemeister: he was so pissed
Phoemeister: even though that happens to like a frickin' million people all the time
Sui: hahah
Phoemeister: do I have ESP?
Sui: what a dick
Phoemeister: do I know which way he's going to move?
Phoemeister: No
Phoemeister: Where's the fire, buddy?
Sui: haha
Sui: yeah you're such a bastard

Sui: I love it when you try to scare your other friends for my amusement
Phoemeister: LOL.. you're welcome. And he'll appreciate it some day because you do*
Sui: of course

which, that comment is based on this conversation I was having and pasting over to him:

Phoe: I love ewan
Suz: i know
Phoe: I want him to have my babies
Phoe: and do the housework
Suz: you want him to do the house work, or the babies?
Phoe: both, man
Phoe: I'll get to laze around
Suz: make him do it naked, then oogle over him
Phoe: Oh, I will
Phoe: and I'll drop things and make him pick them up

*dramatic pause, and about where the major creepiness sets in*

Phoe: with his buttcheeks
Suz: ew
Suz: stuff he picks up might start to smell, unless you have him shower regularly
Phoe: note to self: Make Ewan shower regularly
Suz: with you, or you going to watch?
Suz: broadcast on net, make a fortune
Phoe: BOTH
Phoe: Ewan + Phoe shower porn is where it's at, man
Phoe: YOU'D buy it
Phoe: I know you've always wondered what Ewan looked like nekkid
Suz: I know
Suz: would it be hardcore shower porn, or soft?
Phoe: BOTH
Phoe: I'd think you'd stop asking me either or questions by now




---
* We have a theory that the other guy I was talking to is the past version of him, because they have the same name, and he used to have the same job.

Phoemeister: you know I'm a hypochondriac, right? So take this with a grain of salt:
Phoemeister: I think my appendix is going bad because I've had a pain in my side for a little while
Talia: which side?
Phoemeister: left
Talia: you know, even though you've had your gallbladder out, you can still get an infection from it? If they didn't get all the gook from it out of your system... Archie's mom had her's out years ago, about 4, and she was feeling bad so had a doc appointment and they told her that was possible
Talia: isn't that on your right?
Talia: spleen on left, I think...
Phoemeister: nah, it's not where the gallbladder used to be
Phoemeister: gallbladder is way higher up
Phoemeister: which is why they told me it was heartburn at first
Talia: low on the right could be kidneys... you could have a kidney infection... easy enough with all the medicine you take... cranberry juice helps...might be it if you've noticed you pee more or less lately
Talia: or could be a girl problem...
Phoemeister: dude
Phoemeister: you're trying to make me feel worse, aren't you?


Talia: you know, I think yo'd be an awesome camera dude on Iron Chef... you could stand around and make yick norises when they cook weird crap and bug them till they cook real food
Phoemeister: roflmao
Phoemeister: thanks
Phoemeister: I think

Zan: hey hey, haven't heard from you in a while. I'm just working lots and living.
Phoemeister: well
Phoemeister: you don't IM me either :P
Zan: I never said I did, but I can at least say I'm working 12 hour days 6 days a week. :P
Phoemeister: well
Phoemeister: way to blame the slacker
Phoemeister: I'm busy sticking it to the man, okay
Phoemeister: it's hard work
Phoemeister: it may not look like it
Phoemeister: but it takes a lot of effort to slack off this much

He can breathe in water, yeaaah
super tail can stop the danger, yeaaah

--"Secret Squirrel," Marcy Playground

Man. I've been going through my search requests, and there's nothing comicy. I mean, there's been some weird things, but nothing I feel I can make a funny comic out of.

And there's a BUTTLOAD of sick people on the internet, let me tell you. Honestly. The S & M kiddie porn hits I get outnumber all other search requests like, 3 to 1. It's creepy as hell.

I'm also #1 for heroin girl blog. Thanks, Everclear!

And I STILL get a bazillion hits for Saw Tupac at McDonalds and/or Matt's Dad's Basement. Seriously, people, if you're that desperate for the song, I'll send it to you or something. AIM = Phoemeister e-mail = phoemeister at gmail dot com. I warn you, though, the file has a couple glitches in it. But I don't know anyone with a perfect copy.

I saw tupac at mcdonald's
he got a chicken mcnugget
I saw tupac at mcdonald's
that old g first taught me to thug it

--"Saw Tupac at McDonald's" Matt's Dad's Basement

Gah.

So I went into the station today, because they were having the boy's basketball playoffs, and they asked if I'd be available to help, and I was like, "Yes."

Because I figured: they really wouldn't bother bringing me in on a day off to do nothing, right?

WRONG.

All I ended up doing was riding along with another photographer, and holding the mic while he interviewed some people, which he could very well do himself. In fact, for 1 of the 2 games, he DID do that, because it had to be in the lockeroom with various high school boys in various states of undress, so I couldn't come in.

Then, the other job I was supposed to do, was take the tape from the first game back to the station so that the anchor could work on it while the photographer covered the second game. Not only did I get lost on the way back (GAH, I'm a total moron), but it didn't even matter because the anchor didn't even bother working on it.

The only good thing about the entire night was the two basketball games actually WERE good. Both of them were very, very close. One of them was even won in that stereotypical "by one foul shot with 7 seconds left" that they like to have in movies and tv. AND to make it more mighty ducks-like, that team was the underdog. Though I didn't know that until after. I WAS rooting for them, though, because they were such spazzes, I found it endearing. They kept just like, randomly tripping and falling down. But like, not when they were in the thick of it, just running down the court. When it really mattered, they weren't spazzy. And there was this especially tall spazzy guy that reminded me of this one kid from Freaks and Geeks (the geek that was taller than the other two). And another kid on that team was the spitting image of Clay Aiken. So I felt pity love for him, too.

Sucker love is known to swing
prone to cling and waste these things
pucker up for heaven's sake
there's never been so much at stake

"Every Me & Every You," Placebo

So yesterday, I was cooped up in a van most of the day. It was pretty annoying, epseically as we were in a hurry a good portion of the time which led to whiplash. The only good part of it was one story was this parade, and the weather was really nice and we had the windows down, and I got to sit in front because the other photog was actually on a fire engine.

I did do one vo myself. It was supposed to have a soundbite too, but I didn't quite catch all of the lady I interviewed's name on tape (and couldn't really remember it myself) and we can't use soundbites if we don't identify the people. It really pissed me off, because I know better. And also it sucks extra to get nagged about it afterwards if you know better.

One amusing thing was I got on TV. When I was following around the crew, I tried my damndest to stay out of the shots, but there was one I didn't do so well, I could see myself in the background, and the 'rents were dully impressed, despite the fact that it was what I was trying NOT to do. I thought the photog who editted that shot in did it on purpose because he thought it was funny, but he actually didn't notice he'd done that.

And I did enjoy the vo I did while I was there. It was this religious thing, and they had a BADASS choir. I totally rocked out.

Today I went out to shoot a vo/sot on the state basketball playoffs. Well a team that hopes to win or whatever. That went alright. But then I basically had nothing to do the rest of the day and read like, 2 years worth of Sluggy Freelance. I have to say, I liked online comics before, but now they're becoming the only way I survive work. Thank you, brave online cartoonists.

morning gray ignites a twisted mess of foreign shapes and sounds
I wish the ceiling was the ground
I'll send you flowers made of silent tiny pieces of the sun
to help me make up for this one

--"I Hate It Too," Hum

I made an oragami penguin today.

Among other papery animals. I really have to hope that all the weird-ass immature hobbies I have come in handy in entertaining my nephew when he gets older, so I have an excuse.

the monkeys stand for honesty
giraffes are insincere
and the elephants are kindly but they're dumb
orangutans are skeptical of changes in their cages
and the zookeeper is very fond of rum.

Gah... first day back at work, I did nothing. I swear to you, I read the entire archive of this online comic called Wigu, which is like 3 years worth.

I DID get to go to a meth lab, though. At least that's what I'm going to tell people when I want street cred. Actually, there'd been a stabbing there earlier, which had been covered by someone else, and this one reporter was doing a follow up because he'd heard that the place it happened was possibly a meth lab. But anyway, I didn't end up shooting anything because there really wasn't anything to see there and it technically wasn't a meth lab anyway (there were meth components, but no actual meth). So I was actually stuck in the newsvan near a meth lab while the reporter went and found this out from the cops. That was really the only thing I did all day.

Sucks to be you! I know I know!
Sucks to be you! I know its true!

--"Sucks to Be You," Prozzak

Sui: still taking the horse tranquilizers?
Phoemeister: nah, i only took those like the first two days I was sick
Sui: ah okay : )
Phoemeister: the horses are glad to get them back
Phoemeister: those horses are no good junkies
Sui: haha
Phoemeister: I see them behind the convenience store
Sui: haha
Sui: huffing paint?
Phoemeister: doing their tranqs, trying to get older horses to buy them liquor
Phoemeister: that too
Sui: buncha punks
Phoemeister: yeah. They dress like punks, certainly! With the piercings and colored mohawks
Phoemeister: but I think they're just posers. They don't even know who the Ramones are
Sui: yeah.. they're such a bad influence
Sui: haha
Sui: I remember this one time I walked up to this horse and was like.. "what the hell? You pretend to be all hardcore and stuff, but I know you go home to your rich family and your big house. You don't even know what hardcore is."
Phoemeister: ROFLMAO.... and he went home and cried into his satin sheets
Sui: that's right
Sui: bunch of whiney poser horses
Sui: I flashed him my guns, and he went a'runnin
Phoemeister: "would you like a taste of my 9, seabiscuit?"
Sui: that's right.. these guns
Sui: *flex*
Sui: hahah
Phoemeister: yeah, I knew you meant arms, but I felt like bringing real firearms into this discussion
Sui: it worked well

New comic: True Hermaphrodite Stories

Phoemeister: laptop time is usually the best conversation time
Sui: haha indeed
Sui: unless I fall asleep
Phoemeister: yeah
Phoemeister: but then I get to hurl insults for you to see when you wake up, so it's not all wasted
Sui: haha that's very true
Sui: the best part of waking up, is Phoemeister insulting you while you sleep
Phoemeister: ROFLMAO
Phoemeister: isn't it though?
Sui: I can only imagine sleeping next to you.. wake up in the middle of the night to "what was that prickface?"
Suibrom: or "man you are retarded, douchebag"
Phoemeister: DOUBLE ROFLMAO.